Agenda and minutes

The current Chair of Cam Valley Forum will open the meeting.

The Chair will ask for agreement for the minutes taken at the last meeting which took place on 14^th February 2019.

Apologies received:

Cllr Michelle O’Doherty

Cllr Mark Roper

Cllr Matthew McCabe

Englishcombe Parish Clerk

John Adler welcomed everybody to the Cam Valley Forum and explained how these meetings are open to all. The meeting welcome the involvement of the public, parish councils, community representatives and community groups.

The minutes from the last form meeting on 14^th February 2019 were agreed and seconded.

Apologies for absence were recorded.

Anyone who wishes to find out more about the Cam Valley Forum can go to our webpage which is hosted on the B&NES Council site :-  https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/neighbourhoods-and-community-safety/connecting-communities/bathavon-south-area-forum

The current Chair of Cam Valley Forum is John Adler from Freshford Parish Council. The position of Vice Chair is currently not filled.

The forum members will need to identify who they wish to be the new Chair for the Bathavon North Forum. The vacancy of Vice Chair has not been filled in previous years but remains open to nominations should there be interest from members wishing to stand.

In the event of more than one person being nominated for the posts of Chair and/or Vice Chair there will need to be a ballot. Each Parish Council and each B&NES Ward Councillor will have one vote for both of the positions.

The forum members were asked to identify who they wish to be the new Chair for the Bathavon North Forum. The current Chair of Cam Valley Forum is John Adler from Freshford Parish Council.

The only nomination for the role was John Alder. David Orme nominated John Adler and Neil Butters seconded the nomination. 

The vacancy of Vice Chair has not been filled; there were no nominations for this role. Should anybody wish to take up the vice chair role they can contact John Adler or Mark Hayward for further information.

A copy of the draft terms of reference were available at the meeting and are also available on the forum webpage. If anyone has any suggestions on any additions or amendments to the TOR’s please contact John Adler or Mark Hayward.

Councillor Romero, Leader of the Council, who will provide an update which outlines the new council administration’s priorities, including addressing the climate emergency and giving people a greater say in decision-making.

Council Leader Dine Romero provided the forum with a presentation on the priorities that she and her cabinet are addressing. This presentation is included with the forum meeting notes and is available on the Cam Valley Forum webpage

Questions and discussion points

Cllr Dine Romero introduced the two members of her cabinet that were present at this meeting; Cllr Neil Butters (Transport) and Sarah Warren (Climate Emergency).

In March 2019 B&NES Council declared Climate Emergency at their full council meeting, the motion received cross party support as did the amendment that declared that B&NES Council were opposed to the expansion of Bristol Airport. It has been estimated that within the B&NES authority area there will be the need for 300,000 more trees to be planted.

The financial outlook for B&NES Council remains difficult; the latest budget figures indicate that in 2019-20, for every £1 of Council Tax being spent by the Council, 83.5p is spent on Adult Social Care and Children’s Services

Questions and Comments:

1.  What action has B&NES Council taken so far on Climate Emergency?

Response: SW explained that;

·  Targets have been set for the authority to be zero carbon by 2030.

·  Research has been commissioned by consultants that will show the biggest priorities; this should be able to demonstrate what achieving the targets looks like.

·  The picture already shows that the biggest wins should be higher levels of renewable energy and sustainable home energy.

·  The 10^th October 2019 (6.30PM) Council meeting will be covering this in greater detail. This meeting will also be available by webcast.

·  Campaigns with our own staff around staff travel options.

·  Work with business on the elimination of plastics.

·  DR explained that the Councils building have solar panels fitted, work has taken place with the Abbey on heating solutions and we are continuing to lobby central government for changes on how we deal with issues around single glazed window replacement and restriction in planning regulations.

2.  How many electric charging points are there in the B&NES area? We need more points to make it more appealing to make the move to electric; there are no points yet in Freshford.

Response: SW explained:

·  This work stream is being led by Cllr Joanne Wright so this information can be provided after this meeting. Note: the public facing charging points in B&NES is around 36, a live website feed that shows the locations available -  https://www.zap-map.com/live/

·  NB explained that there are concerns raised by Western Power Distribution regarding there not being enough capacity to deliver rapid charge services if there were a high level of uptake.

·  In Clapham there have been adaptions made to lampposts that allow charge when parked up at the roadside.

·  It was pointed out that the majority of electric vehicle user will slow charge at their own home overnight.

·  From the fifty people in the room only two people owned electric cars and two people owned electric bikes.

3.  What can be done to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The forum is taking the opportunity to give the majority of this agenda to deal with the topic of climate emergency. This will be an opportunity to learn from groups that will be able to demonstrate some of the steps that are being taken locally and to encourage each individual to consider what contribution they are able to make.” 

Bradford on Avon Town Council will be attending the forum to discuss what they have achieved since declaring a climate emergency in their local area. It is hoped that we will be able to inspire more local councils and communities to rise to this important challenge.

Councillor Sarah Warren, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency for Bath and North East Somerset will be attending the meeting to take part in the discussions. There will also be an opportunity to also hear who Freshford School battled for agreement to fit solar panels and a discussion on rural transport issues

An open session will also be held during which residents will be given the opportunity to put questions to councillors and officers.

• Freshford School – 15 mins
• Galleries Solar Panels – 15 mins
• B&NES Council – 15 minutes
• Bradford on Avon Town Council – 20 mins
• Open Discussion – 15 mins

Introduction

John Adler explained that he had chosen to bring the climate of Climate Emergency to the CAM Valley Forum to follow up on a number of things that have been happening around this topic locally.

John explained that a number of years ago he had been invited to a briefing held by the Department of the Environment which showed that the tipping point that we have now reach was coming. The reality is that climate change is happening now and we must act now.

Freshford Church School – Andrew Wishart, Headteacher

Andrew explained:

·  Freshford Church School has been working on its Sustainable Solar Panels project to create a community legacy for the future of the children

·  There have been key players in the community that have worked tirelessly to support the school

·  The Sparks Points scheme has generated interest through the children at the school to see the visible cause and effect around saving energy.

·  The school has taken an approach that holds common discussions that sees a change to the way of the pupils thinking. A developed structure and use of language makes the children find solutions to problems.

·  The energy sparks website has seen that Freshford Church School has seen a high percentage drop in electric usage verses similar sized schools.

The film Freshford School Solar Project that was was shown can be viewed online using this link  

DR asked how the School dealt with reaching some of the children who are harder to reach.

AW explained that the modelling that is used leads to the conditioning of all of the schools pupils.  When children and questioned and given a task to take away they have a tendency to return with an answer or additional questions.

Galleries Shop Solar Panels – Gitte Dawson

Gitte explained how the project in Freshford had come about and the model that had been used for implementation of the scheme

The costing model within the local community was explained and how the power feeds into and is displayed within the local community shop

The full presentation will be available on the CAM Valley Forum web page

The question was asked, was a wind turbine considered?

Gitte explained that this option had been looked at but it was thought the village would object.

It was commented that consideration had been given for a wind turbine near Endsleigh. There had been objections to this by planners, locals and nimbies. 

SW commented that a B&NES Council Officer has looked at the options for where viable options could exist. It is important that parishes get their intentions and options included within their neighbourhood plans.

For further information on this project Gitte Dawson can be contacted: gittedawson@gmail.com

Bradford on Avon Town Council – Alex Kay

Alex Kay explained that on 5th March 2019, Bradford on Avon Town Council unanimously approved the Climate Emergency motion.

Alex shared a presentation that demonstrated what a Town with a population of 10,000 people can achieve and have been working on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.